The formation of hyponitrous acid as an intermediate compound in the biological or photochemical oxidation of ammonia to nitrous acid

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Abstract
The study showed that certain stages in nitrification of (NH4)2SO4 may be effected by microbiological, chemical or photochemical agencies. The change NH3 [forward arrow] HNO2 may occur as a re sult of bacterial agency or of the action of light, and in both cases hyponitrous acid has been detected as an intermediate product. The change HNO [forward arrow] HNO3 may result from bacterial activity or it may take place chemically, as the reaction is catalyzed by the H-ion. At pH values above 5.0, loss of nitrite in this way is not appreciable, but at lower values the loss may be considerable. This suggests that, under certain conditions, nitrification in tropical soils may be largely a chemical process. It has also been established that the photochemical change HNO3 [forward arrow] HNO2 is by no means inappreciable. With resorcinol and K periodate, hypo-nitrites give an orange or cherry-red color which is quite intense after 5-10 min. and becomes strongly fluorescent after standing for ca. 1 hr. Similar colors are given by hydroxylamine, borates and bicarbonates with these reagents, but hydroxylamine is readily detected by its reducing action on Fehling''s solution.

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